Matthew Johnson: Coverage of Malcolm has become so heavily politicized that I thought it best to promote a variety of sources and let people educate themselves, first and foremost, and then judge for themselves who this man was and what he stood for. Of course, the most popular book is Alex Haley‘s controversial Autobiography of Malcolm X. The newest and likely-to-be equally controversial is the late Manning Marable‘s Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention I will not give the Amazon link for either of these books because I would prefer that you buy them from an independent bookseller, if you are able. The esteemed professor Dr. Jared Ball recently hosted a round-table discussion on the Marable book and X’s legacy on the District’s WPFW, what he appropriately refers to as a “liberated masses medium.” Look for further analysis from the Black Left at http://www.blackagendareport.com/ I can speak to what the mainstream, predominately white, community generally “knows” about Malcolm. It views him

as a militant who espoused violence against whites and promoted Black Nationalist/Muslim politics while opposing MLK’s pro-integration stance and preference for nonviolence. I do not need to provide any links toward this perspective as you have likely gotten more than enough of it already from the media and the public school system. I do not claim to be a Malcolm X scholar, but I value him not as a black militant or nationalist; I value him as a proud, assertive spokesman for the oppressed in the United States and abroad who was paradigmatic of what “Brother Rabbit” stood for in challenging both the oppressor within (the corruption of the Nation of Islam and what he called the “House Negro”) and without (the system of colonialism and white supremacy in the United States, Africa, and elsewhere). Therefore, despite the numerous attempts — honest and otherwise — of certain factions to reclaim him, Malcolm X belongs to the people at large and always will.